Wait
by Dark Ice Dragon
Summary: After they had made sure that Hiccup wasn't going to die from shock or from bloodloss, Toothless never willingly left Hiccup's side.


**Summary**: After they had made sure that Hiccup wasn't going to die from shock or from bloodloss, Toothless never willingly left Hiccup's side.

Missing scenes between after Toothless saved Hiccup from the Green Death and Hiccup waking up.

Written for sarashina/cafecliche as a yuletide treat

I really wanted to title this 'Night Guard'. XDD (This makes more sense when I was originally going to call this 'Guard'.)

* * *

**Wait**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

After they had made sure that Hiccup wasn't going to die from shock or blood loss, Toothless never willingly left Hiccup's side. He stayed there the entire time as they made their way back to Berk, peering warily at anyone who tried to get near to Hiccup before allowing them close. It didn't matter that Toothless had inspected every single person by the time they got home, he still checked again, just in case. No-one knew what he was checking for, but they didn't begrudge the inspection, not when Toothless was the one who had kept Hiccup safe from death.

Toothless was a large, silent shadow tailing Hiccup's stretcher when they reached land again, not batting an eye or twitching an ear at the people's screams when they saw him again, his entire focus on Hiccup. They made the slow trip to Stoick's house, Toothless never letting Hiccup out of his sight, never falling even half-a-step behind.

It was after Stoick had settled Hiccup into his bed, pulling the covers up to his son's chin, he turned away to find Toothless sitting there on the floor, head cocked to the side, pupils large. Stoick glanced back at Hiccup, before bringing his attention back to the dragon in front of him.

Sighing, he knelt down and Toothless rose up and padded towards him. Still not entirely sure how to act around him, Stoick raised a palm and Toothless pointed his head down, rubbing against it. There was a small purring sound from Toothless' throat, and he smiled a little at that.

"I don't think I can ever thank you enough for saving my son," he murmured. The only other sounds in the room that wasn't from Toothless was the wind blowing through the cracks in the walls and the fire crackling behind them.

Toothless' ear twitched towards him as he talked, before he snuffled and drew back. Stoick was studied for a few seconds before Toothless grinned at him, head tilting to the side, and then jumped up over Hiccup's footboard, his tail nearly whacking Stoick in the face. He ducked, Toothless' tail-fin ruffling his hair as it passed over his head. When Stoick turned around, Toothless was already settled on the foot of the bed, curled up snugly in a ball, eyes closed.

Stoick opened his mouth to argue, but then stopped, thinking it over. Toothless didn't have anywhere else to go in the village, and Stoick couldn't make him go outside, not after Toothless had been guarding Hiccup so intently and keeping so close to him. Toothless also wasn't laying on top of Hiccup, making sure to stay away from putting any pressure of his stump.

He sighed. "All right then, you can stay."

All he got as a reply was one eye cracking open, and given a look at that seemed to say, 'of course I can' before the eye closed again.

* * *  
The next morning, Stoick opened Hiccup's room to find everything in disarray, furniture overturned, scratches on the posts, and Toothless sitting in the middle of it all, looking pleased with himself.

"What did you…?" He could see the scratch marks on the rafters and swaths of clear areas, and as Stoick watched, Toothless' tail swept away some of the damage, putting it into heaps as it waved around.

Well, this hadn't been something he'd thought about when he'd invited a dragon into the house.

"Okay, _you_, stay right there," he said, pointing a finger to Toothless. Toothless merely looked at the finger, his pupils trying to see such a small thing. When Gobber came in with two people to help carry Hiccup away, Toothless' ears pricked up in curiosity, following their every movement. He then followed them out the house, lightly dodging Stoick's hands when he tried to stop him.

The door to the healer was closed in Toothless' face, and Stoick watched him circle the building, trying to find another opening. There wasn't one; they'd made sure that there wasn't. Ears and head lowered, Toothless scratched at the door, then attempted to push it open with his head. It didn't work.

Stoick took pity then, and walked up to Toothless. One ear flicked towards him, Toothless looking at him for a second, before staring back at the door.

"It's okay," he said gently, patting him. Toothless ignored him in favour of the door. A minute later, Toothless' nostrils flared and he thrust himself up onto his back legs, his wings flashing out at the same time, knocking Stoick flat. Roaring, Toothless attacked the door with his front legs, leaving long scores on the door. It still held in place, but Stoick could see that it would only take a few more hits before splintering.

"Toothless!" He scrambled to his feet and tackled the dragon, somehow avoiding crushing his wings. Toothless struggled under him, hissing all the while, tail whipping left and right but not bringing out his claws or teeth into it. "It's okay, it's okay," he tried to soothe as he held him down. "They're attaching Hiccup's new leg right now, so they have to take the bandages off. He'll be all right in the end, you'll see." Stoick didn't know how much Toothless understood, but he could feel him relaxing bit by bit, no longer trying as hard to wriggle free.

When he was sure Toothless wasn't trying to get away, Stoick gingerly let him go. Toothless was instantly at the door, staring at it, ears pricked forward.

Stoick really had to give him credit - he really took his self-appointed role of watching over Hiccup seriously. He made his way over, sat down next to Toothless and they waited for the outcome together.

* * *  
After Hiccup was back in bed, his new leg attached safely, Stoick began the task of returning Hiccup's room to order.

Or rather, he _would_ have, but Toothless was curious about all the items there, and every thing that Stoick put in its proper place, Toothless pulled it away to get a closer look at it, and in the process of doing that, knocked something else over. Stoick was surprised that Hiccup didn't seem to notice, hadn't stirred once, but he was glad that they didn't wake him up.

Eventually they developed some sort of truce: Toothless had a pile of things that he could investigate while Stoick cleaned up everything else. He wasn't sure what would happen when he had to put away what Toothless was looking after, but at least the room was starting to look a little more clean again.

* * *  
Toothless had started licking Hiccup as he slept; Stoick was fairly sure he didn't want to wake up smelling of dragon drool. It _was_ good to know that Toothless didn't have acidic or poisonous fluids but he would have preferred to have known _before_ seeing Toothless hovering over his son, Hiccup's face soaked in saliva.

Bringing over a bowl and cloth, Stoick began to wash his son's face. While he was doing that, he saw Toothless come up on the other side of the bed, watching his movements closely. Throughout, Toothless tracked the cloth as it was dipped in the water, was squeezed mostly free of the water, ran over Hiccup's face, and then the cycle started over again. When Stoick finished, he leaned back and moved Hiccup's hair away from his face.

Toothless licked Hiccup, leaving a wet trail from chin to his hairline.

Groaning, Stoick threw the cloth at Toothless. It hit him square in the face with a splat, and Toothless reared back, shaking his head until it fell off. Toothless glared at him, snorting.

"Only if you don't do that too often."

The glare softened, the ears rising again slowly. Toothless considered the cloth where it had fallen in front of him before picking it up in his mouth and attempting to drag it across Hiccup's face. After reaching the end of Hiccup's face, Toothless looked up at him.

Well, it was better than licking.

* * *  
Toothless was curled up on the foot of Hiccup's bed, and Stoick petted him just before he went to bed. Hiccup was due to wake up soon, but the wait hadn't been so terrible as he thought it would have been, Toothless helping to distract him and keep him busy.

It wasn't so bad, having a dragon for company.


End file.
